Part of the Cambridge Companion to Music book series, this recent offering attempts to provide a roadmap of the history, practice and current state of electronic music for the intelligent lay-person and students. By way of introduction, the promotional blurb for the book notes:

The text provided a wonderful opportunity for practitioners or theorists in the field to then engage both interested laity and traditional musicians in electronic music, many of who remained baffled by some of the idiom’s lack of performance value, its abstract nature, seeming lack of narrative structure, and sometimes confusing semiotic sense in relationship to other musical genres. Any opportunities one can take to make the field more comprehensible and engaging to wider audiences should then be grasped enthusiastically, considered carefully, and delivered astutely. While holding out promise and despite a reasonable range of material, I wondered if this book had made full use of the opportunity.

The upside of the book, although a good proportion of the material is already covered in various scattered texts, is that it allows one to read through something of the spectrum of the field and appreciate its diversity. The weakness is that, as a whole, it struggles to significantly come to terms with many of the central issues that folk from outside the field often raise, such as the division between high culture and popular music, the asymmetrical development of technical and aesthetic dimensions, the lack of audience for more experimental forms in the idiom, and the segregation of technical and artistic approaches in the genre. While there are parts of the book that begin to touch on some of these issues, providing refreshing interludes, there is little sense of the whole being addressed beyond summaries of some of the parts.

Structurally, the book begins with a chronology of the idiom, followed by an introduction by the editors. The text is then divided into three sections. Part I covers electronic music in context in four chapters. Part II has six chapters on electronic music in practice. Part III covers analysis and synthesis in three chapters. At the end of Part I there are fourteen short artists’ statements, and there are a further sixteen artists’ statements at the end of Part II.

The chronological overview at the beginning is a reasonable attempt to be inclusive with the use of popular music as well ‘art music’ examples, and from different electronic music idioms. Although very useful, given the extensive on-line chronologies in areas of popular electronic music and electronic instruments that are available, this could have been extend and a better balance and range of material included.

The introduction notes the wide range that the idiom now covers. The editors (p. 2) suggest that ‘Given such a vibrant tableau, this book can only attempt to survey and analyse a proportion of the developments and innovations’, and ‘we have tried to avoid duplicating the content that can be found in already well-known books (a representative sample of which are included at the end of this introduction)’. The range of books presented for further reading, however, could be broader than indicated. In addition, acknowledged in the introduction (p. 2) is ‘the manically communicating world the target is moving quickly’. Perhaps this should be an opportunity to concentrate on some of the broader integration issues raised above, rather than get to bogged down in too much contemporary detail, which will date quickly. Finally, the ‘continua stretch’ between ‘serious academic art music’ and ‘electronica’ (p. 3) is mentioned, hinting that the issue might be explored in broader terms in the text. However, although is mentioned in some of the chapter offerings, it is never fully developed.

The strength of this text is in some of the excellent individual chapters, which present concise overviews of the aspects of the many byways of the idiom. Andrew Hugill’s offering opens Part I (called ‘Electronic music in context’), with a chapter titled ‘The origins of electronic music’. This provides a broad and deep historical survey, beautifully written with a fine balance of theoretical and artistic underpinning. The chapter concludes in 1958 with Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique.

Chapter two by Margaret Schedel, titled ‘Electronic music and the studio’, looks at issues arising from the democratic access to the new powerful computing equipment to make music that is now available. To address these issues she interviewed practitioners of different ages, nationalities and experiences from around the world, with the aim of providing an inclusive overview. Beginning with historical and ‘technology of aesthetics’ sections, the chapter discusses accessibility, studio, community and performance issues. There are interesting insights here with a good depth of material. The chapter had great potential to be developed to deal with aspects of the larger issues implicit in the field.

Nicolas Collins next contributes ‘Live electronic music’ as the book’s third chapter. This will probably be of interest to art music composers as an area with which they may not be familiar. In all, it is a solid survey with good historical range, largely written in favour of the western academic tradition, despite the odd dip into the popular music tradition.

The final chapter of Part I is by Ge Wang, entitled ‘A history of programming and music’. This is a wide-ranging and substantial technical survey of the academic field up to Wang’s own ChucK programming language.

At the end of Part I, one is left wondering why the section is titled ‘Electronic Music in Context’. An essay outlining the larger historical, political and social ‘context’ of electronic music as an art-form seems warranted here, as well as an extended chapter on aesthetic issues covering some of the debates that are a part and parcel of the idiom. Further, a good survey of electronic popular music, both analogue and digital, appears warranted as a balance to the other material presented.

At the end of the section is a collection of artists’ statements that includes contributions from Laurie Spiegel, Yasunao Tone, John Oswald, Mathias Gmachl (Farmer’s Manual), Erdem Helvacioglu, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Jeffs, Rodrigo Sigal, Mira Calix, Denis Smalley, Seong-Ah Shin, Carsten Nicolai, Warren Burt and Max Mathews. It may be difficult for readers to know what to make of these offerings in the context of the book. The statements are of differing length, the writing style widely varied, there is little of a common focus in the collection, and some of the statements say little of significance beyond being promotional blurbs. There are, however, one or two gems here. For example, Denis Smalley’s contribution is worthy of an extended chapter on aesthetics/acousmatic music as a contribution to the book, and Warren Burt’s very short but insightful offering cries out for further development.

Part II of the book has a focus on ‘Electronic music in practice’. Chapter five, ‘Interactivity and live computer music’ by Sergi Jordà, is another in-depth historical survey of the field, but again largely learning towards an art music approach. Three later sections deal with some of the associated aesthetic issues, including where we might be heading in the idiom, with clarity, insight and concision. The balance here of aesthetic, technical and philosophical in the last parts is excellent. The chapter is a refreshing grapple with some of the big issues, in contrast to a summary of the facts.

Karlheinz Essl covers ‘Algorithmic composition’ in a well-rounded historical survey with a clear line found through the material. David Cope’s book New Directions in Music also covers part of this territory, but this is an interesting extension. A discussion on the balance of technological and aesthetic developments would also have been welcome here.

Chapter seven covers ‘Live audiovisuals’ by Amy Alexander and Nick Collins. This is a refreshing change in context, as it is an area that many academic electronic music practitioners many not have a working knowledge of. The wide-ranging discussion, part historical survey, is best covering the recent past from both art music and popular fields. Appreciated was a final section considering some possible approaches to the theoretical analysis of audiovisual works. Given the balance here, it is something of a model that other chapters could have emulated.

‘Network music’ is the title of chapter eight by Julian Rohrhuber, an area that has been well documented in the literature with Gil Weinberg’s extensive surveys on the topic. It contrast, this chapter is not as broad or focused as the topic suggests.

Julio d’Escriván next contributes ‘Electronic music and the moving image’ in chapter nine. Again, this is an area that is well documented in the literature, particularly in popular music. The survey here is wide ranging but somewhat idiosyncratic in comparison. However, the chapter provides a balance in the book’s collection that is often overlooked in other texts on electronic music, and will be of interest to many.

Chapter ten by Nick Collins covers ‘Musical robots and listening machines’. This will be an engaging chapter for many readers, and the line taken through the field might usefully be extended with a summary of more recent work taking place in artificial intelligence.

The section ends with the second collection of artists’ statements, including those of Kevin Saunderson, Kanta Horio, Donna Hewitt, Alejandro Vinao, Bubblyfish, Barry Truax, Lukas Ligeti (Burkina Electric), Christina Kubisch, Murat Ertel, Adina Izarra, Cybork, Francis Dhomont, David Behrmann, Kevin Blechdom (Kristin Erickson), Karlheinz Stockhausen and George E. Lewis.

As with the first group of artists, it was difficult to see why this collection of people were drawn together, given the range of practising artists that might be invited to contribute from both the art music and popular music fields. Further, many of the statements add little in terms of insight, and some are poorly written. Scattered throughout, although infrequently, are some wonderful insights. A tighter writing brief seemed warranted. Alejandro Vinao touches on issues that are worthy of being developed into an extended essay, perhaps in a fourth section of the book, entitled ‘Philosophical Issues’. Barry Truax’s work also begs development as a separate chapter. It seems a pity that Stockhausen is afforded such limited space, and Francis Dhomont’s contribution also begs extension.

Part III, which concludes the book, is titled ‘Analysis and synthesis’, and is covered in three chapters. The title here does not seem to reflect the range of material that it might contain, with no contribution on the analysis of electroacoustic music, for example. Further, the last and outstanding chapter is largely focused on sociological and aesthetic issues.

Chapter eleven by Stefania Serafin is on ‘Computer generation and manipulation of sound’. Written largely from an engineering perspective and leaning toward academic approaches, is a reasonable survey of generation, but issues of manipulation might have been extended and an aesthetic underpinning added to lend wider interest.

Petri Toiviainen’s contribution in chapter twelve covers ‘The psychology of electronic music’, and is a masterly walk through mainstream material. Recent work on reception studies in electronic music may have been useful here also.

The chapter on ‘Trends in electroacoustic composition’ is by Natasha Barrett. Finally, we arrive at a substantial discussion that provides a framework to approach many of the larger issues that could have been addressed more directly throughout the book. The discussion is wide ranging, clear, perceptive and refreshing – covering philosophical and aesthetic issues – and begins addressing something of the divide between popular music and art music.

I approached this review with some apprehension. It is a fine balancing act between being supportive of one’s colleagues and their genuine efforts to promote the field, and also acting as a critical arbitrator of whether an opportunity to explain our field to others had been fully grasped. Overall, there is a substantial collection of material here to engage the reader. Structurally, however, it is difficult to see why some of the essays fell into the three divisions given the material that is presented in each section. Further, there are some potential sectional topics that seem to be neglected. Both of the artists’ statement sections seemed to be problematic. It may have been better here to put forward a few focused interviews with a balanced selection of major practitioners across the art music and popular music fields.

Of passing concern was that some of the major academics and practitioners who could have written well on topics that are covered in the book are absent. Further, given the extensive material accumulated in journals such as CUP’s own Organised Sound and Popular Music, MIT’s The Computer Music Journal and Leonard Music Journal, and conference proceeding such as NIME and ICMC that could be drawn on, there are some surprising omissions in the bibliography provided.

To my mind, in the history of technology and music, pivotal points rely on the coming together of unique practitioners as storytellers, the use of simple and robust algorithms to generate material implemented through a new technology that can be commonly shared, towards reflecting a current or changing social situation. There are moments in electronic music, both art music and popular, where these factors have coincided, and the idiom has been integrated with the narrative traditions many share. Some of these points of integration are covered well in the book, and a wider consideration of popular music would have covered others.

At the same time, constant experimentation is a healthy and necessary part of any ongoing process, and the book reflects something of the fractionated nature of the later digital music discovery process. For example, we have many standardised tools, but an emerging sonic language that is not widely shared; some clear intellectual understandings of the process of making sounds, but a less clear understanding of how our narrative bodies try and make sense of the new sonic offering in the idiom.

A main concern, however, is that the book as a whole partly pulls its punches, missing something of the opportunity to take a balanced overall view and deal directly with some of the larger current issues that are integral to the idiom: something an intelligent lay-person or conventional musician may still beg for.